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SARATOGA COUNTY: 
An HistoFvICAl Addep^ss 

By GEO. G. SOOTT. 



AND A 



CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 

By J. S. L'AMOREAUX. 



Delivered at Ballston Spa, N. Y., July 4, 1876. 



OPINIO Jijf ^tJ K^Aijjy ^/O. 



BALI.STON SPA, N. Y. 
PUBLTSIIEl) BY WATEllBUKY & INMAN. 

18TG. 




SARATOGA COUNTY ^^ "^ 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



By GEO. G. SCOTT. 



AND A 



CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 

By J. S. L'AMOREAUX. 



Delivered at Ballston Spa, N. Y., July 4, 1876. 



(PIllO'E, ^& CEJ^QIB. 



BALLSTON SPA, N. Y. 
PUBLISHED BY WATERBUBY & INMAN. 

1876. 




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« 



SARATOGA COUNTY: 

An Historical Address 

Delivered at B<dMf/i Spa, ^'. T., July 4, 1876, by Ge<>. O. 8coU. 



Fellow Citizens : 

In compliance with an invitation of the commit- 
tee of aiTaugements and our county officials, sug- 
gested by the proclamation of the f^resident of the 
United States, I have, with some diffidence, con- 
sented to assist in filling out the ceremonies of the 
day, with an imperfect sketch of our local history. 
The brief limits required for an address upon an 
occasion of this character, will necessarily permit 
no more than a general reference to that portion of 
our history with which the civilized world is famil- 
iar — which T shall endeavor to supplement with 
some facts and incidents, confined chiefly to the 
Colonial and Revolutionary period, that have es- 
caped the notice of the general historian, or have 
not been deem<^d worthy of his attention. Having 
already been somewhat instrumental in furnishing 
some of these facts and incidents that have been 



4 SARATOGA OOUNTY : 

published, I shall feel at liberty to reclaim them, 
so far as shall be necessary for my purpose, 

Tlie territory comprised within the limits of the 
c<jiinty of Saratoga, when first known to the Euro- 
peans, formed a part of the extensive domain of the 
Mohawk Indians, one of the five nations, composing 
the confederacy of the Iroquois. This territory had 
been reserved, and was kept by them, as their favor- 
ite liunting ground. No one, not of tlieir nation, 
whether savage or civilized, was permitted to en- 
croach upon it. In the appropriate seasons, they 
would leave their villages and castles up the Mo- 
hawk, and in their bark canoes glide down the river 
t,o the mouth of the Aal Plats (or Eel Place creek,) 
about three miles below Schenectad3^ row up that 
stream to a point near the head of Long (now called) 
Ballston lake, transport their canoes thither, pass 
down that lake, at their leisure, and through its 
outlet, to what is now the East line corners, and 
there encamp, for the purpose of hunting, trapping 
and fishing. 

I'Util some forty years ago there was upon the 
Mai-vin lot at that place, a boulder, with an orifice, 
on its surface in the shape of a mortar, scooped out 
either by artificial means or by the action of water at 
some remote period, which the Indians used for 
pounding or ci ushing their corn into meal. This in- 
teresting relic has unfortunately disappeared, no one 
knows how or where — but it is supposed that it 
was broken up in the construction of the I'ailroad 
in the immediate vicinity. 

From this encampment they crossed over to the 



AN HlSTOUIt'AL ADDRESS, 5 

Mourning Kill, a short mile distant, and proceeded 
thence in their canoes down tliat stream to its con- 
fluence with the Kayaderosseras, and thence to 
Saratoga lake. There are still occasionally found 
upon the west shore, between the mouth of the 
Kayaderosseras and the Narrows, traces of their 
encampment. That lake was then noted, as it is 
yet noted, for the abundance of its fish, and con- 
tained, what have unfortunately long since disap- 
peared, large quantities of trout. The Kaya- 
derosseras, as far up as Rock Cit}' F'alls, for a 
considerable time after the advent of the whites, 
abounded not only in trout, but shad and herring. 
From the lake, the Indians passed down Fish creek 
to the Hudson, and down that river to the mouth 
of Anthonj^'s Kill, up that stream, through the 
Round Lake and up the Ballston outlet, to their 
encampment by the old stone mortar. 

It may seem incredible to the present generation, 
that such diminutive streams as are some of those 
I have named, afforded navigation even for bark 
canoes. But. it has been one of the draw backs 
of clearing up this wilderness for th'^ abode of 
civilized man, that our creeks have shrunk to 
one-third or one-fourth of their original ordinary 
volume. 

This territory has been the scene of many a bloody 
conflict between the Mohawks and the Canada or 
Northern Indians, known as the Hurons, the 
Algonquins and the Adirondacs. On the south 
bank of the Sacandaga, in the town of Day, are 
traces of an Indian burial place. There is a tra- 



6 SAEATOUA COUNTY : 

dition that a party of the xllgonquins, passing up 
the river in their canoes, on an expedition against 
the Mohawks, were drawn into an ambuscade by 
the latter and all destroyed and buried at that spot. 
At a later date, hostile parties of the same Indians 
had an encounter by the bank of a stream near the 
line between Charlton and Galway, and nearly all 
of the defeated party were slaughtered. For many 
years, even after the whites had begun to settle in 
the vicinit}^, the survivors and kindred of the slain 
were accustomed to return to the spot upon the 
anniversary of the battle, and indulge in lamen- 
tations over the dead, according to the Indian cus- 
tom. This circumstance gave to the creek the name 
of "Mourning Kill, which ithas ever since retained. 
("Kiir* is the Dutch name for "creek.") 

I hold in my hand a memorial medal of Queen 
Mary the Second, which has no doubt dangled from 
the neck of some loyal Mohawk, and was lost in 
the chase or on the war path. It was found a few 
years ago by Mr. George C. Taylor, two or three 
feet below the surface of his meadow, near Milton 
Center, while excavating a, ditch. The medal con- 
tains a vignette of the queen, and an inscription, as 
follows : 



MARIA II. D. G MAG. BR FR. ET. 

HIB. REGINA. 

NATA. 10 FEBR. 1668 COR. 11 APR. 

16S9. MORT 29 DECK. 1694. 



The place where we are assembled is near the 
line of march of the French and Indians, when in 
1690, they surprised and burned Schenectady, 



AN HISTOKIOAL ADDRESS. 7 

slaughtered sixty-three of its inhabitants, and re- 
turned witli seveiul captives. 

The Indian title to tracts bordering upon the Hud- 
son and Mohawk and extending back a few miles in- 
to the woods, had been purchased at an early day. 
and patents therefor obtained from the crown. The 
Halfmoon patent derives its name from the place of 
Junction of the Hudson and Mohawk, suggested by 
the crescent shape which they there assume, or, as 
some insist, by the curve in tlie Mohawk above the 
Cohoes Falls. The Indian name was Nachtenack. 
This patent was issued to Philip Pieters Schuyler 
and Goosen Gerrits Van Schaick, May 4, 1668. 
It is also known as Van Schaick' s Patent. It in- 
cludes Ji part of ^^"aterford, and a tract along the 
east side of Halfmoon. The Saratoga i)atent de- 
rives its name from a place on the Hudson, (now 
Schuylerville) called "Saraghtoga." This word in 
the Indian tongue, signities ''swift water.'" to dis- 
tinguish that point in the river from the ''still 
water" which there commences, and extends down 
to Stillwater village. Tliis patent, about seven- 
teen miles in length along the river, and extend- 
ing six miles on each side, was granted, Oct. y, 
1708, to Petei- Schuyler and others. The Clifton 
Park or Chenentahowe patent, embracing the east 
portion of the present town of Clifton Park, was 
granted to Nanning Hermance and others, Sept. 
23, 1708. The Appell i)atent, the source of much 
litigation in our courts, was granted to William 
Appell, Nov. 2, 1708, and consists of a narrow strip, 
extending from the Mohawk at Rexford Flats to 
the vicinity of Ballston lake. 



8 sakatoCtA coitnty : 

Ttie original Indian tract called Kayaderosseras^ 
derived its name from the Kayaderosseras creek. 
The word in the Indian language signifies ' 'crooked 
stream." The patent of that name was issued No- 
rembei- 2, 1708, to Nanning Hermance and twelve 
others, among whom was Sampson Broughton, the 
attorney general of the province, and embraces all 
of the central, and by fai- the givater portion of the 
county, and extends into the adjoining counties of 
Montgomery, Fulton and Warren. It was granted 
by Queen Anne, under the great seal of the prov- 
ince, and is now kept in our county clerk's office. 
The history of the titk^ to this tract, affords a strik- 
ing, though not un(;ommon, ill ustration of the greed, 
unscrupulousness and rapacity of our own race, in 
its transactions with the ignorant children of the 
forest. The process by which the Indians were 
finally forced to yield up tliis valuable property, is 
an instance of the operation of that universal phy- 
siological law, which has been denominated "the 
survival of tlie fittest," but which in this instance 
ma}^ be, perhaps, appiopriately paraphrased as 
•'the success of the smaitest." The pretended In- 
dian deed in 1702 to two individuals, upon the 
strength of wliich the patent was afterwards ob- 
tained, was evidently procured by the basest fraud. 
This was so palpable and notorious that for nearly 
half a century after its date no open claim under 
the patent was made. The ^ears of the Indians had 
been excited soon after it was issued, but after so 
great lapse of time, the}^ regarded the claim as 
abandoned. In the meantime the shares of the 
original patentees had become vested in about one 



AN HISTOKICAL ADDKESS. 9 

hundred and thirty proprietors, most of whom were 
members of the assembly and council, the most 
prominent lawyers and the most wealthy and influ- 
ential inhabitants of the province. It is evident 
from the communications to the Lords of Trade in 
London, (who had charge of colonial affairs, ) made 
by Lieut. Gov. DeLancy, Gov. Moore and Sir. Wil- 
liam Johnson, from 1754, when the fears of the 
Indians in regard to this claim were renewed, until 
the final settlement in 1 768, that the patent waa 
invalid for the following reasons : 

The Indian deed purported to have been executed 
by only i^y<> tribes of the Mohawks ; Aviicieas ittj 
validity required the concurrence of their three 
tribes, the Wolf, the Turtle and the Bear. 

Those who f^xecnted the d<M>d had no authority 
to bind their tribes. 

It was procured upon the representation that it 
conveyed no more land than was sufficient for two 
or three small farms on the river above Saraghtoga, 
when it contained several hundred thousand acres, 
and the patent embraced much more than the deed 
purported to convey. 

The pretended consideration was £60 to be paid 
in goods, which were never delivered ; the excuse 
(which was believed to be a sham) being that they 
had been sent from Albany to Schenecte,dy for the 
[ndians, and there accidentally destroy by fire. 

Sir William Johnson, always the true friend of 
the Indians, from time to time urged the necessity 
and importance of doing justice to the Mohawks in 
this regard, not only upon principle, but as a mat 



10 SAEATOGA COUNTY : 

ter of policy ; for they were a formidable military 
power, and the other nations of the Indian confed- 
eracy would inevitably take up their quarrel, and 
tLe peace and security of the province be endan- 
gered. In vain he urged that proceedings be taken 
to vacate the patent for fraud, either by a scire 
facias, or an act of the Colonial legislature. 

In writing to the Lords of Trade, Oct. 30, 1764, 
Sir William says : "From the date of the Kaya- 
derosseras patent in 1708 to 1754, no settlement 
whatever was made thereon, nor hath the same ever 
been surveyed or any partition made thereof as yet 
by the patentees ; and this notorious neglect, to the 
prejudice of the colony (had the grant been equit- 
able) can only be attributed to their consciousness 
of its iniquity. Since then some of the proprieta- 
ries without knowing their own shares, have very 
lately encouraged some families, who, according 
to the best information, do not exceed a dozen in 
number, to settle on some parts of the patent 
towards Fort Edward, and in the neighborhood of 
Saraghtoga lake, but the Mohawk hunters, having 
come across their huts last year warned them off, 
with which some have complied.'- 

In 1768 the Mohawks were persuaded into what 
was called a settlement, wliereby, in consideration 
of $5,000 a»d the relinquishment of a small portion 
of the tract as claimed under the patent, they re- 
leased all their interest in it, according to the sur- 
vey then made. 

They never forgave the injury. Upon the break- 
ing out of hostilities soon after, between Great 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 11 

Britain and her colonies, they cast their fortunes 
with the Johnson family, and followed Sir John 
Johnson to Canada. Availing themselves of their 
familiar acquaintance v^rith this region, they eagerly 
seized the opportunity of gratifying their revenge, 
by accompanying the regular forces in their fre- 
quent raids from Canada — to one of which I shall 
presently refer. 

In 1769 and 1770 the patent was partitioned. Tt 
was subdivided into twenty-four divisions or allot- 
ments, and each allotment again divided into thir- 
teen lots, so that each patentee, his heirs or assigns, 
would have a share in each allotment, and these 
lots were distributed by ballot. The commission- 
ers of partition were Christopher Yates and John 
Glen, both of Schenectad}^, and Thomas Palmer of 
New Cornwall in the county of Orange, and Charles 
Webb was the surveyor. 

A tract five miles square, constituting the present 
town of Ballstou, except a few hundred acres at the 
south end, together with what is known as the Five 
Thousand acre tract in the south part of Charlton, 
was set apart by the commissioners for defraying 
the expenses of the partition and survey. From its 
proximity to the Mohawk valley, and the general 
appearance of the land, this reservation was re- 
garded as the most valuable and salable in the 
patent. It was immediatel}^ sub;iivided into lots 
and thrown upon the market. 

Before this partition took place, settlements upon 
the river patents already referred to, had been made 
to some extent, but were almost exclusively con- 



12 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

fined to the river valleys. Along the valley of the 
Hudson, they had been partially retarded, by 
reason of its being the highway for the passage of 
the armies engaged in the wars between Great 
Britain and France. Before the middle of the last 
century there was a number of wiiite inhabitants, 
two or three saw mills, and a log fort at Saraghtoga. 
In November 1745, the settlement was attacked by 
a party of French and Indians. The fort, which 
had been permitted to go to decay, the mills, and 
about twenty houses, were burned, and about thirty 
persons were killed and scalped, and about sixty 
more taken prisoners. In 1689, Harman Leversee 
had a house and barn at Halfmoon, surrounded by 
a fort, and in 1714 the place contained 101 inhab- 
itants, mostly of Dutch descent, and scattered for 
several miles along both rivers. 

In the early part of the last century, two brothers, 
Michael and Nicholas McDonald, natives of Ireland, 
when mere boys, were enticed on board of a vessel, 
lying in the Liffey, brought to Philadelphia, and 
there sold for a tei m of years, in accordance with a 
barbarous practice then in vogue, for a sum suffi- 
cient to defray the expenses of their passage, and 
taken into the back -woods of Pennsj^lvania. In 
process of time they found their way to Schenec- 
tady, and having acquired a taste for life in the 
wilderness, settled down on the west shore of Long 
hike, and <;onstructedarude cabin. On their route 
thither they passed over a tract which had been 
recently burned over by Mohawk hunters for a deer 
pasture, to which thej' gave the name of "Burnt 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



13 



Hills," which it has ever since retained. This was 
in 1763. In 1767, Sir William Johnson having 
heard through the Indians of a wonderful "medicine 
spring" flowing from the summit of a rock, and 
being in ill health, procured a party of them to con- 
duct him thither. They passed a night in McDon- 
ald's cabin, and Michael, the next day, accom- 
panied his guests to the spring (now known as the 
High Rock spring at Saratoga Springs)— Sir Wil- 
liam being transported on a litter — and returned 
with them to his cabin 

It was owing to Sir William's influence with the 
Mohawks that the McDonald's remained undis- 
turbed in their occupancy, and upon the subdivis- 
ion of the Five mile square they obtained a 
deed from the proper source. Michael McDonald 
died on his old homestead June 28, 1823, in the 
96th 3^ear of his age. 

The next arrival, after this, was that of the Rev. 
Eliphalet Ball (from whom Ballston derives its 
name) with his family consisting of three sons, John, 
Stephen and Flamen, and a daughter Mary, who 
subsequently became the wife of James Gordon. 
This was in 1770. Mr. Ball had been a Congregation- 
al minister at Bedford, Westchester county and sev- 
eral of his congregation, which extended into Stam- 
ford, tlie adjoining town in Connecticiit, came with 
him. A tract of 400 acres, upon the south line of 
which the ' 'red meeting house' " was subsequently 
erected, was donated to him by the propriet jrs of 
the Five mile square, as an inducement for this 
removal. They were soon followed by several 



,14 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

families from Connecticut and emigrants from Scot- 
land and the north of Ireland. 

On the 22d of September, 1775, such of the 
inhabitants as had been members of churches 
in their former homes, met, and united as a society 
under the mhiistry of Rev. Mr. Ball, and sub- 
scribed a paper containing among other things, this 
article of faith : ' 'We believe the Gospel as it 
is explained and held forth in the assembly of 
Divine' s shorter catechism, and the directory of the 
church of Scotland, as our plan of church govern- 
ment, so far as we may find it agreeable to the 
WordofGrod;" thus reserving, to its full extent, 
the right of conscience and private judgment. 
Measures were soon taken to build a house of wor- 
ship, which resulted in the erection within a few 
years of the "Red Meeting House," known to some 
of the present generation as the "old Academy." 

When iiidependence was declared, the Ballston 
settlement had extended into what are now Charl- 
ton, Gal way, and Milton, but then, and until or- 
ganized as towns in 1792, known respectively as 
Freehold, Galloway, and Mill Town or Kayaderos- 
seras. 

The war did not entirely prevent, but it seriously 
checked, the influx of settlers. In regard to the 
controversy witli the mother country there was 
here, as elsewhere, a diversity of sentiment. The 
choice was not entirely free from perplexity. The 
issue of the struggle was uncertain. The Tory or 
Royalist was assured protection from the strong 
arm of that government which had never failed to 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



f 



shield its obedient or to punish its rebellious sub- 
ject. Some remembered how, thirty years previous, 
the rebellion against the British crowi', headed by 
the son of the lineal heir of the house of Stuart, 
and wliich collapsed on the disastrous field of Cul- 
loden, was followed by the merciless and indis- 
criminate slaughter of the vanquished— which fast- 
ened upon the commander of the royal forces — a 
son of the king — the appellation of the "Butcher 
of Cumberland." Others, composed of the timid 
and conservative, the friends of law and order, 
those whose loyalty to the king they deemed an 
essential part of their religion, and who dreaded 
the disgrace of being stigmatized as "rebels," 
adhered to the royal cause. The majority, which 
included the most influential and intelligent inhabi- 
tants, instead of being intimidated by the oppro- 
brious epithet, gloried in it. They were aware of 
the penalties of treason. But, as men of sagacity 
they could not fail to perceive that it was repug- 
nant to the dictates of reason and humanity that 
this vast country, with its boundless prospects of 
greatness, should remain an appendage to a little 
island, at the distance of 3,000 miles, across a vast 
waste of waters ; and that the question of Ameri- 
can independence was merely a question of time, 
and the time had come. There were enough loyal 
subjects scattered through the settlement to "aid 
and comfort the enemy," and harbor their scouts 
and spies. 

Col. Robert Van Rensselaer, in a letter to the 
provincial congress sitting at Kingston, dated 



S SARATOGA COUNTY : 

April IH, 1777, writes that he has received a letter 
requesting the assistance of the militia to quell an 
insurrection of the tories in Ballston. 

Hezekiah Middlebrook, chairman of the Balls- 
ton committee of safety, writes a letter to the com- 
mittee of Saratoga, dated May 2, 1777, stating in 
detail, the suspicious movements of a party of men 
who had encamped between Charles Merrick' s and 
Ebenezer Sprague's (now on the road^between Fac- 
tory Village and James Thompson's) and adds that 
the morning previous, thirty or forty men were 
discovered marching up the Kayaderosseras, and 
returned the same way in the evening and further 
adds ' 'There is reason to think there is a large body 
of them, more than we are able to cope with, and 
a good many from this settlement have absconded, 
and it is thought have joined them. We look upon 
ourselves at their mercy, if they choose to attack 
us, which we hope will incite you to be as expedi- 
tious as you can to assist us." 

The explanation of this alarm would seem to be 
this : Several of the tories in this vicinity having 
received the offer of bounty lands in Canada, 
marched off in an armed body at about the date of 
Middlebrook' s letter to join the British forces at 
Crown Point. They struck the well known Indian 
trail, leading over the Kayaderosseras mountain, 
across the Sacandaga river near Daly's creek, and 
west of Lake George to Crown Point, which I shall 
hereafter refer to. They encamped the first night 
on the bank of a lake on the summit of the moun- 
tain, to which, (either from its surroundings or 



AN HISTORICAL ADDIIKSS. 17 

their own situation, or perhaps botli,) they gave the 
name of ''Lake Desolation," which it still retains. 
Col. James Gordon, with a detachment of militia 
(among whom were Edmund Jennings and David 
How) followed in pursuit, and on the 6tli of May, 
overtook them, thirty-one in number, in the present 
town of Luzerne, and brought them back. They 
were tried by a court martial and fined fifteen dol- 
lars each. 

On the approa(;li of Burgoyne's army, several of 
the Connecticut families returned to that state, and 
did not come back until the close of the war. 

The centennial celebration of the event which has 
givt'U immortality to the name of Saratoga, will no 
doubt be observ^-d in October, 1877, with all the 
pomp and circumstance befitting the occasion, 
and the event itself illustrated by the best oratory 
of the country. Although it took place upon our 
soil, it is the property of the whole country. It 
fills the brightest page in its annals ; and the name 
of Saratoga occupies as conspicuous a place in 
English history, though not as flattering to Eng- 
lish pride, as Blenheim, or Ramillies, or Quebec — 
I had almost said Waterloo. It has been classified 
b}"^ historians as one of the decisive battles in the 
history of the world. Before it occurred, defeat 
and disaster had for the most part followed the 
American arms, and hope had well nigh given place 
to despair. At no time since the commencement of 
hostilities, had our cause seemed so full of peril. 
On the one side, the British troops were in the occu- 
pation of New York city and the adjacent country. 
Sir Henry Clinton, with a fleet of transports, was 



18 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

about to sail up tlie Hudson. St. Leger, with a' 
body of regulars and Canadians, landing at Oswego, 
Avas joined bj^ a force of Mohawks under Brant, and' 
had proceeded as far as Fort Stanwix to march 
down the Mohawk valley. From the north Gen- 
eral Burgoyne, who had won laurels for the crown, 
by his distinguished successes in Spain, connnand- 
iug a large army, composed mostly of veterans of 
the seven years war, was moving down the upper 
Hudson to effect a junction with Clinton and St. 
Leger. The plan of the campaign was, incident- 
ly, to prevent reinforcements to the American army, 
under the command of Schuyler and subsecpiently 
of Gates, and then to concentrate their forces at Al- 
bany, and with that city for their headquarters, 
and a chain of military posts, stretching from the 
sea coast to the St. Lawrence, to cut off all com- 
munication between New England and the other 
colonies, and thus dismember the confederacy. Nor 
was this all. We were carrying on a war against 
a power, "with which,'' in the words of America's 
greatest statesman and orator, "Imperial Rome, in 
the heighth of her glory is not to be compared — a 
power which has dotted over the surface of the 
whole globe with its possessions and military posts 
— whose morning drum beat, following the sun and 
keeping company with the hours, encircles the 
earth daily with one continuous and unbroken 
strain of the martial airs of England.'' It was 
calculated on both sides — and such probably would 
have been the result— that if success should attend 
this expedition, it would terminate the contest. 



AN Ii[S.'i(»RI('AL ADDRESS. 19 

Sir Heiiiy Clinton la^-ged behind; St. Leger's 
progress was blocked at Fort Stanwix ; and upon 
the plains of Saratoga, within twelv^e miles of the 
spot where we are now assembled, the compara- 
tively undisciplined troops of the Colonies, re-in- 
forced by detachments of militia from the back 
settlements, achieved a l)ril]iant and decisive vic- 
tory. One of the most gallant of the British officers, 
the only general officer of the British forces killed 
in the war, fell on the held, and the splendid army, 
with its munitions and stores and ordnance, were 
finally surrendered to the Americans. The (confi- 
dence inspired by this triumph of our arms, com- 
municated a new impulse to our cause, which had 
its influence until our flag floated in triumph on 
the field of Yorktown. 

After the surrender of Burgoyne, no event of im- 
portance occurred within our borders until 1780. 
In the early part of October in that year, an expe- 
dition was sent out from Canada under the com- 
mand of Major Carlton, by way of Lake Cham- 
plain. Landing about 200 at the head of Bulwagga 
bay, which forms the west shore of Crown Point, 
the remainder, consisting of about 800 proceeded 
up the lake, landing at South bay, moved forward 
rapidly to Fort Anne, where they arrived on the 
10th of October, and on demand the fort was sur- 
rendered, and then burnt, and the garrison made 
prisoners. They then with their prisoners marched 
across to Fort George, where they arrived October 
11th. After a short skirmish outside of the fort, 
between Gage's Hill and Bloody Pond in which the 



20 SAKATOGA COUNTY : 

enemy were successful, and a brief investment of 
the fort, our troops surrendered themselves as pris- 
oners, and the fort was destroyed. Major Carlton, 
with his forces and prisoners thereupon returned to 
iiis vessels on Lake Champlain. 

The other party which landed at Bulwagga Bay, 
was made up of a part of Sir John Johnson's corps, 
and some rangers, (among whom were refugees 
from the Ballston settlement) and Mohawk Indians, 
led by "Captain John," and all under the com- 
mand of Captain Munro, formerly a trader at 
Schenectady. The object of this part of the expe- 
dition was to attack Schenectady, but if that ex- 
periment, upon reconnoitring should be deemed 
hazardous, then to make a descent upon the Balls- 
ton settlement. The orders to Munro were, to 
plunder, destroy property, and take prisoners, but 
not to kill, unless attacked or resisted, or to prevent 
escapes. They proceeded by the Indian trail 
already mentioned, and encamped in the northwest 
part of the present town of Milton, where they 
remained a few days, concealed from all but some 
tories in the neighborhood, by whom they were 
supplied with provisions. Having learned through 
their scouts that it would be unsafe to make an 
attempt on Schenectady, and that the "fort" in 
Ballston had just been garrisoned by about 200 
militia men chiefly from the former place, they con- 
cluded to advance no further than Col, Gordon's. 

The "fort," as it was called, stood on the south- 
west corner of the square, at the Red Meeting 
house, which was then nearly completed^ The fort 



AN ni8T0RI«AL ADDRESH. 31 

was constructed of oak logs, with loop lioles for 
musketry, and surrounded with pickets. 

The massacre at Cherry V^alley, and the more 
recent Indian barbarities in the Mohawk valley, 
had excited the worst apprehensions of the Balls- 
ton inhabitants, who had for two qi three months 
previous been expecting an invasion of tiie enemy. 
Some of them had frequently abandoned their 
dwellings at night, taking with them their most 
valuable effects and lodged in the woods ; but as 
no danger appeared, their vigilance rehixed, and 
they slept in their dwellings. 

Col. Jamefe Grordon, then the commanding officer 
of a regiment of militia, arrived home October 13th, 
from Poughkeepsie, where he had attended as a 
member of the legislature, at an extra session con- 
vened by Gov. Clinton, which adjourned October 
loth. His residence was on the Middle Line road, 
upon the farm now owned by Henry VViswall, jr. 
and his capture was deemed of considerable impor- 
tance. Some of the escaped tories, who had been 
brought back by him three years previous, had not 
forgiven him, and one of them, in communication 
with Munro, informed him of Gordon's arrival. In 
the evening of October 16th, the enemy came to a 
halt at the dwelling of one I:.mes McDonald, a tory 
living at the first four corners west of what has 
since been known as the Court House hill. Mc- 
Donald piloted the party through the woods to the 
rear of Gordon's house. Gordon was awakened by 
the breaking of the windows of his sleeping room, 
by bayonets thrust through them. He sprang from 



22 SATJATOGA COUNTY : 

liis bed, in wlii -h \¥tt*liis wife and little daughter, 
and partly dressing himself, went into the; hall, 
Avliich was by this; time tilled with the enemy. As 
he opened the door, a gigantic savage raised his 
tomahawk, and as the blow was descending upon 
Gordon's head., the arm of the savage was caught 
by an officei-. At this moment the brass clock, 
which stood in the corner of the hall, struck twelve, 
whereupon an Indian shattered it into pieces with 
his tomahawk exclaiming: "you never speak 
again !" A scene of indiscriminate plunder then 
ensued, which was chiefly carried on by the squaws, 
who accompanied the party, and who were the 
most heavily laden with the spoils. The Indians 
attempted to Are the house and barn, but were 
prevented. Besides Gordon, Jack Calbraith and 
John Parlow, servants, and Nero, Jacob and Ann, 
three negro slaves were carried off as prisoners. 

As they proceeded towards the main road, where 
Gordon's miller, Isaac Stow, lived, he came run- 
ning toward them, exclaiming "Col. Gordon, save 
yourself! the Indians!" He turt:ed and ran a 
short distance, when he was intercepted by an In- 
dian, who pierced him in the side with his spontoon 
and Stow fell, The Indian then dispatched him 
with his tomahawk and took off his scalp. 

In the meantime, a party had proceeded to the 
house of Captain Collins, across the Mourning Kill. 
They broke open his door and captured him and his 
female slave. His son, Mannasseh, escaped through 
an upper window and ran to the fort, a mile and 
a half distant, and gave the alarm. The enemy 



AX iriSTOKKAL Al>l)KK>>. 23' 

then piucct'ded up the Middle Line road and made 
prisoners of Thomas Barniim, John Davis, Elisha 
Benedict, and his three sons, Caleb,Elias and Felix, 
and Dublin, his slave ; Edward A. Watrous, Paul 
Pierson and his son John, a boy, John Higby and 
his son Lewis, George Kennedy, -Jabez Patchin, • 
Josiah Hollister, Ebenezei- Sprague and his sons 
John and Elijah : Thomas Kenned}', Enoch Wood 
and one Palmatier, living near what is now known 
as Milton Center, and who was the last one taken. 
But one man lived north of Palmatier. Being a 
tory, he was unmolested. Several houses and 
barns were burned. 

Between Higby' s and George Kennedy's, about 
fifty under the command of Lieut. Frazer, a refugee 
from the vicinity of Burnt Hills, left the main body 
and advanced to the dwelling of George Scott. 
Aroused from sleep by the violent barking of his 
watch dog, he, with his musket in iiis hand opened 
the door, and saw the column advancing in the 
moonlight. He heard some one exclaim : "Scott, 
throw down your gun, or you are a dead man !" 
Not hastening to obej^ he was felled to the floor, 
by three tomahawks simultaneously thrown at him 
by Indians of the party, who rushed up to take his 
Bcalp. The}^ were prevented by Frazer and Ser- 
geant Springsteed, another refugee and formerl}" 
Scott's hired man, who, with their swords, kept 
the savages at bay. The party pillaged the house 
and left Scott, as they believed, in a dying con- 
dition ; — so they informed Col. Gordon, his brother- 
in-law — but he recovered. 



24 8AKATOGA COUNTY : 

The enemy crossed tlie Kayaderosseras, at what 
is uow Milton Center, about daylight and soon 
came to a halt Each prisoner was placed between 
two of the enemy in Indian file. Their hands were 
tied, some of them were barefooted and most of 
them but j)artly dressed. George Kennedy was lame 
from a cut in his foot, and had no clothing bnt a 
sheet. Munro thereupon addressed his men. He 
said he expected they would be pursued, and that 
on discovering the first sign of a pursuit, evnn the 
firing of n gun, nach man must kill his prisoner. 
In this order, thf march was resumed ; the prison- 
ers ex])e(^ting that the troops from the fort would 
overtake them, and that each moment would be 
their last Anothei' source of apprehension was 
that some Indian would fall ))ack and fire his gun 
for the purpose' of having the ord<'r carried into 
execution, a reward for scalps having been offered. 
For this inhuman order, Munro was afterwards dis- 
missed from the service. 

The first man in front of Gordon was a British 
regular, a German, who was next behind Captain 
Collins and had charge of him. Gordon was the 
piisoner of a ferocious savage imniediateh' in his 
rear. He lieard the soldier say to Capt. Collins : 
"I have been through the late war in Europe, and 
in many battles, but I never before have heard sucli 
a bloody order as this. I can kill in the heat of 
battle, but not in cold blood. You need not fear 
me, for I will not obey the order. But the Indian 
in charge of Gordon is thirsting for his blood, and 
the moment a gun is fired Gordon is a dead man." 



AN HlrtTORICAL ADDRESS. 25 

On arriving at the foot of the Kayaderosseras 
mountain, tley halted for breakfast, and slaugiiter- 
ed the sheep and catth^ which they had driven 
along ot. their retreat. In the afternoon, they 
Btruck the trail up the mountain by which they had 
descended, and halted for the night about two miles 
beyond Lake Desolation. Alunio here discharged 
Ebenezer Sprague and Paul Pierson, both old men, 
together with John Pierson and George Kennedy. 
Gordon had privately, by some means sent l^ack a 
message, advising that all attempts at a rescue 
should be abandoned. The messenger met Capt. 
StepluM) I'all with a detachment of militia trom the 
fort, at what has siu(;e b(;en known as Milton meet- 
ing house, and they returned. The enemy with their 
prisoners, on tlie 24th day of October, arrived at 
Bulwagga bay and there, joining Carlton's party, 
they all proceeded down the lake to St. Johns and 
thence to Montreal. 'I'he prisoners were at first 
lodged in the JR.ecollet convent, anl afterwards con- 
fiRf^d in a jail. Gordon was bailed in the sum of 
£3,000 by James Ellice, with whom he had formerly 
been connected in business, in Schenectadj'. After 
a few months, for wliat reason he never knew, he, 
alone of all the prisoners, was removed to Quebec 
and kept there in prison for about two years, when 
he was transferred t<j the Isle of Orleans. 

In May, 1781, the notorious Joe Bettys with the 
aid of about thirty refugees under his comm md, 
made a raid into the Ballston district and captured 
Consider Chard, Uri Tracy, Ephraim Tracy, Samuel 
Nash and Samuel Patchin. They were all taken 



26 SARATOGA (!OUNTY : 

to Canada excepting Nash, who escaped near Lake 
Desolation. At the same time, Epenetus White, 
Captain Rumsey, two brothers named Banta, and 
some others oi; the east side of Long lake, were 
takeirby a Tory officer named Waltermeyer, and 
marched oif to Canada. 

When Gordon was removed to the Isle of Orleans, 
he there found White, Higby, Enoch Wood, the 
two Bantas, and other Ballston prisoners. They 
contrived to escape from tlin island by means of a 
fisherman's boat, and landing on the right bank of 
the river, they, made their way into the wilderness. 
Their provisions soon gave out and for several days 
thc^y subsisted up«^n nothing but berries and a 
species of mussel found in the streams. Arriving 
at the headwaters of the St. John, they, wi.th their 
hatchets, constructed a rude raft, upon wiiich they 
floated down the river for a considerable distance, 
and then struck across to Passamaquoddy bay. 
This was in 1783, and there the}' learned for the 
first time, that hostilities had ceased. They pro- 
ceeded to Halifax, and were brought from thence to 
Boston by a cartel. 

Nero, one of Munro's prisoners, after his capture, 
had attempted to escape. A few rods south of the 
north line of the ''Five mile square," where James 
Allison now lives, he suddenly broke from the 
ranks, and sprang headlong down a ravine. His 
head coming in contact with a sapling, he was 
retaken. At Montreal he was sold to Capt. Laws, 
a British ofiicer. The other slaves, captured by 
Monro, were also sold. In a short time, Nero and 



AN HISTORICAL ADUKE8S. 27 

Capt. Benedict's "boy" Dubliii,contrived to escape. 
They came by the west shore of Lake Champlain, 
to Ticonderoga, and there swam across tlie Lake, 
and found tlieir way to Richmond, Massachiisetts. 
There they remained until tlie close of the war, 
when they returned to Ballston and vohmtarily sur- 
renderc^d tlipm-^t^lve- lespeciively to rh<>ir former 
owners. 

Joe Bettys, to whom 1 have alluded, was the son 
of respectable parents Residing in thn Ballston dis- 
trict. His fatlier, Joseph Bettys, during and subse- 
quent to tlie wai', kept a tavein b^low what is 
known as the Delavau farm, upon the farm now 
occupied by Mr. Lewis Trites. The old man's 
gravestone may be seen in the cemetery at Burnt 
Hills. The career of Joseph Bettys jr. is an im- 
portant item in the early history of Ballston. His 
name, for several years towards the close of the war, 
was a terror to its inhabitants. The followino- 
account of Bettys is mostly compiled trom Simms's 
Border Wars, and a statement of Col. John Ball : 

Col. Ball, a son of Rev. Eliphalet Ball, as early 
as 1776, held a lieutenant's commission in a reo-i- 
ment of New York forces commanded by Colonel 
Wynkoop. Being acquainted with Bettys, and 
knowing him to be bold, athletic and intelligent in 
an uncommon degree, he succeeded in enlisting 
him as a sergeant. Bettys was soon reduced to the 
ranks by reason of some insolence to an otficer, who, 
as he alleged, had wantonly abused him. To save 
him to the cause, Ball procured him a sergeantcy 
in the fleet commanded by Gen. Arnold on Lake 



28 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

Champlain, in 1776. Bettys was in the desperate 
fight between the Britisli and American fleets on 
the Lake, and being a skillful seaman, was of sig- 
nal service during the contest. He fought until 
every commissioned officer on board of his vessel 
was killed or wounded, and then himself assumed 
the command, and continued to light with such 
reckless courage that General Waterbury, who was 
second in command under Arnold, preceiving that 
the vessel was likely to sink, was obliged to order 
Bettys and the remnant of the crew on board of hia 
own vessel. 'He stationed him on the quarter de tk 
by his side, and gave orders through him, until the 
vessel having become disabled, and the crew nearly 
all killed. Gen. Waterbury wounded and only two 
officers left, the colors were struck, and the rem- 
nant made pi-isoners. They were soon discharged 
on their parole. General Waterbury afterwards 
informed the Rev. Mr. Ball that he never saw a 
man behave with such deliberate desperation as did 
Bettys on that occasion, and that the shrewdness 
of his management was equal to his courage. 

For some reason his gallant services were not 
recognized to his satisfaction, and this neglect his 
proud spirit and ungovernable temper could not 
brook. He afterwards went to Canada, joined the 
loyalists, and receiving an Ensign's commission in 
the British army, became a S'py and proved him- 
self a most dangerous and subtle enemy. He was 
at length captured and sentenced to be hung at 
West Point, but the entreaties of his aged parents, 
and the solicitations of influential whigs, induced 



AN IIISTOHIGAL ADDRESS. 39 

General Washington to pardon him. But it was 
ill directed clemency. He was more vindictive 
than ever, and the vvhigs in this part of the state, 
and especially in Ballston, soon had oiicasion to 
regret the lenity they liad unfortunately caused 
to l)e extended to him. He recruited soldiers for " 
the king in our very midst, planned and guided 
many of the raids from, the north, and was at the 
same time in the (Huployment of the king's officers 
as a most faithful and successful messenger, and 
cunning and intelligent spy. There had been many 
attempts to apprehend him, but he eluded them all. 
In the early spring of 1782, in the present town 
of Clifton Park, about a mile west of Jonesville, 
one Jacob Fulmer was engaged in making maple 
sugar in the woods, and after remaining there as 
usual over night, was relieved in the morning by 
his daughter while he went to his breakfast. The 
morning was very foggy, and she, without being 
observed, saw a man, upon snow shoes, bearing a 
pack and a gun, pass near by and proceed toward 
the house of a widow named Hawkins. This house 
was upon the farm now belonging to L. W. Crosby. 
The girl immediately informed her father, who at 
once suspected the stranger might be Bettys. Call- 
ing upon two of his neighbors, Perkins and Corey, 
and all being well armed, tii.;^ stealthily approach- 
ed the house, and suddenly burst open the door. 
They discovered Bettys with his back towards 
them, eating his breakfast, with his rille by his 
side. He seized it, but not having taken the pre- 
caution to undo the deer- skin cover that protected 



30 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

the lock, was unable to discharge it. They seized 
him and tied him securely. He asked leave to 
smoke, and was partially unbound to afford him 
the opportunity. He went to the lireplace to light 
his pipe, and took something out of his tobacco box* 
and threw it into the fire. Corey noticed this and 
immediately snatched it out with a handful of 
coals. It was a small leaden box about the eighth 
of an inch in thickness, and contained a paper in 
cypher, which afterwards proved to be a dispatcli 
to the British commander in New York, and also 
contained an order on the mayor of New York for 
£80 sterling, in case the dispatch should be safely 
delivered. Bettys begged for leave to burn the 
papers, and offere.L 100 guineas for the privilege, 
but his captors refused. He then despairingly 
said : '*I am a dead man." He was taken to 
Albany, tried by a court martial and convicted and 
hung as a spy ; to the great relief of the whigs in 
this section of the state. 

A few weeks after the capture of Bettys, a small 
party of St Regis Indians, having spent the winter 
in hunting and tishing in the northern wilderness, 
attacked Joseph Gonzalez a.:d his sons, living in 
that part of the Ballston district which is now 
Charlton, while they were burning brush in the 
field. Gonzalez and his son Emanuel were killed 
and scalped. John, a younger son fifteen years 
old and a hired man were carried off as prisoners 
and taken to St. Regis village. John was subse- 
quently forced to enter the British service, and re- 
turned in 1785. He was the father of the late 
Emanuel Consahis of Charlton. 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 31 

AVhile Gen. Wasliington was waiting at New- 
burgh, in the summer of 1788, for the definitive treaty 
of peace, he concluded to while away a part of the 
time by a trip to tlie northern part of the state. 
Accordingly, accompanied by Gov. Clinton, Gen. 
Hamilton, and others, he proceeded by water to 
Albany. From thence the party on horseback 
moved up the river, and visited the scene of the late 
battle above Stillwater, and the spot of Burgoyne's 
surrejider. They continued on to Lake George, 
passed down the lake in boats which had been pro- 
vided for them, and examined the fortifications of 
Ticondei'oga and Crown Point. On their return 
they came by the way of the High Ro(?k spring, 
where they halted, and then with some difficulty 
found their way to the mineral spring (at the foot 
of what is now Front street) Avhich first gave to 
Ballston Spa its celebrity as a watering place. The 
spring then flowed through a tube iriade from the 
section of a hollow tree. No building had then 
been ei-ected or clearing made within our present 
corporate limits. From here they proceeded to the 
residence of Col. Gordon, who had recently returned 
from his captivity, where they dined. Towards 
night they left for Schenectady, Col. Gordon'attired 
in his regimentals escorting them, and riding at 
Washington's right. 

For just one hundred years our territory formed 
a part of Albany county;, which was established in 
1691,. Until the erection of Tryon and Charlotte 
counties in 1772, it embraced all the northern and 
western portions of the province, and for a time, 



i^ 8AKATOOA COUNTY: 

the whole of Vermont By an act of the colonial 
legislature, pa.^sfMi March 24, 1772. a district in 
Albany county, by the name of Halfmoon, was 
ere(!ted, which included the present towns of Half- 
moon, Waterford and Clifton Park. By the same 
act, all the residue of our territory, including the 
Saiatoga patent, wjis organized as a district by the 
name of Saratoga. By another act, passed April 
1, 1775, th(^ distri(^t of Ballston was taken from 
Saratoga. Tlie Ballston district embraced the pres- 
ent towns of Ballston, Charlton, Galway, Milton, 
Providence, Edinburgh, Day, Hadley, and the 
most of Greenii(^ld and Coiinth. In 1788 the dis- 
tricts of Halfmoon and Ballston were organized as 
towns in Albany county. The Saratoga district 
was divided into two towns in the sam*^ county, to 
wit : Stillwater, which <-nibraced th(^ south part of 
the Saratoga patent on both sides of the river; and 
Saratoga, which included the residue of the district. 

These four towns, except the portions of Saratoga 
and Stillwater Ijnng east of the river, constituted 
the county of Saratoga, which was cj-eated by an 
act of the legislature, passed February' 7, 1791. 
This brings us down to our separate existence as a 
county,' and affords a convenient stopping place. 

But a brief sketch of the semi-centennial celebra- 
tion of Amej'ican independence in this village on 
Tuesday, July 4, 1826, will, I trust, be not deemed 
inappropriate. It surpasseAin interest and pageant- 
ry all Fourth of July observances in this county, 
that preceded it, or have followed it. 

The most prominent feature of the procession was 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 33 

a car 42 feet long and 14 feet wide named ''The 
Temple of Industry." It was drawn by thirteen 
yoke of oxen, each yoke in charge of a driver clad 
in a tow frock, and all under the command of Jacob 
Near of Malta. Upon the car, were thirteen repre- 
sentatives of so many branches of the mechanic 
arts, plying their vocations. Among them was the 
printer, striking off semi-centennial odes; the black- 
smith, with his anvil, keeping time with the music ; 
the cooper, making more noise tlian all tht? others ; 
and Mr. William A'an Ness, who, while the pro- 
<;ession was moving, made a paii- of shoes for the 
president of the day, to whom they were presented 
with an appropriate address and response. 

Another interesting feature of the procession was 
a band of thirty-semn Bevolutlonary nderans, 
who kept step to the music in a way that indicated 
they had not forgotten their military discipline. 
Lemuel Wilcox, a soldier of the revolution, bore a 
standard inscribed, ''Declaration of Independence.'" 
John Whitehead, another i-evolutionary veteran, 
bore a standard inscribed "Constitution of the 
United States." And another veteran. Jeremiah 
Pierson, carried the national standard. 

Anothei- atti*active feature was the "Corps of 
Union Cadets," composed of two tine looking and 
admirably drilled uniformed companies from Union 
college ; one commanded b}^ Captain Knox and the 
other by Captain Jackson, now the senior professor 
in Ihat institution. The corps was under the com- 
mand of Major Holland, the register of the college, 
and a veteran of the war of 1812. 



34 SAEATOC+A (BOUNTY : 

The procession moved through the principal 
streets amid salvos from a brass six pounder cap- 
tured from Burgoyne, to the Baptist church, which 
stood upon the lot now occupied b}^ the railroad 
water tank. Samuel Young, then speaker of the 
assembly, presided. >*rayer was offered by Rev. 
Eliphalet Nott, the president of Union college. 
The declaration of independence was read by Anson 
Brown, a young lawyer of this village, who died 
while our representative in the twenty-sixth con- 
gress. The oration was delivered by John W. 
Taylor, then speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. His concluding remarks were addressed to 
the revolutionary soldiers, who arose in a bod}^ 
and the scene was quite dramatic. 

The Union Cadets dined at the Sans Souci hotel, 
and the regular dinner and toasts were at the Vil- 
lage Hotel. Among the regular toasts was the fol- 
lowing : 

John Adams, Thomas .leflerson and Cliarle? Carroll of Carroll- 
ton ; The surviving signers of the declaration of independence. 
As the measure of their daj^s, so is that of their fame — over flowing. 

Wh-n this sentiment was iittored. it was not 
known, that since the sun had risen on that day, 
two of those illustrious patriots had been numbered 
with the dead, leaving Charles Carroll the sole sur- 
vivor. 

By previous arrangement, the cadets marched 
into the room, when the president of the day ad- 
dressed them in highly appropriate and compli- 
mentary terms. Major Holland responded, reading 
from a manuscript, in the familiar liand writing of 
Dr. Nott, which I hold in my hand : 



AN HISTORICAL ADDKEvSS. 35 

Gentlemen : In behalf oi tbt- corps 1 have the huuor to com 
mand, permit me to teuder their acknowledgement for your polite 
attentions. If our humble exertions to :iid in the duties of the day 
have met the approbation of this patriotic assemblage, it is the 
highest gratification we can receive. In retiring, permit me to 
propose as a toast : 

TuE COUNTY OF Sak.\toga. Its hills, monumeutt; of valor; its 
springs, resorts of fashion ; its hainlets, signalized bj' patriots and 
statesmen. 

Union college and its distinguished president 
were complimented by two of the r/7?/w/// as fol- 
low^s : 

By Thomas Palmer, Esq. 

Union Coi-lege. C'revit — crencit — rrencut. 

By Anson Brown, Esq. 

The President of Union College. '''^Dignumluutk >nriim musa 
vetat moi'i." 

If these sentiments were not duly appreciated by" 
all present, tlie following was expressed in such 
plain spoken, unmistakable English, that there 
was no doubt as to its meaning : 

By Edward Watrous, Esq. 

The LEGiTiMA'rEs of Europe. May they be yoked, poked and 
Ju>ppled, cross fettered^ tied head andjoot and turned out to browse on 
the pine plains of old Saratoga. 

In regard to the remaining festivities at the table^ 
and the exuberance of patriotic feeling manifested, 
the truth of history, perhaps, requires the state- 
ment, that temperance societies had not yet been 
organized. 

The committee of arrangements consisted of 
James Merrill, David Cory, Wm. Clark, JohnDix, 
Jerry Penfield, Charles Field. Alexander Russell, 
Robert Bennett, Roswell Herrick, David F. White, 
Geo. W. Fish, Hiram Middlebrook, Joseph Bar- 
ker, David Derrick, Sylvester Blood, Samuel R. 
Grarrett and Abraham Middlebrook. Tlie general 



36 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

manager of this superb celebration was Lyman B. 
Langworthy, then the sheriff of the county, now 
living at Rochester, and almost a nonagenarian. 

The only, survivors of those who officiated on 
that occasion besides sheriff Langworthy, and Prof. 
Jackson, are Joseph Barker, Hiram Middlebrook 
and our fellow citizen, Samuel R. Gariett. 

And now. Time in its "ceaseless course,'' has 
^brought us down to the semi-centennial anni\'ersary 
of the deaths of Adams and Jefferson, and to the 
centennial of American Independence, which they 
were so instrumental in establishing. 

When the Persian monarch more than 2,000 
years ago, looked down upon the Hellespont cov- 
ered with ships, and the shores and plains of 
Abydos swarming with men composing his grand 
army for the invasion of Greece, he, with tears gave 
utterance to the thought, which has been deemed 
worth}' of mention b}^ the historian, that in a hun- 
dred years, not one of that vast multitude would be 
alive. How brief indeed is the life of man, when 
compared with the duration of his race I It is a 
solemn reflection, however obvious and common 
place it may seem, that of the millions who are this 
da}^ (^elebrating the commencement of the second 
century of our national existence, probably not one 
will live to usher in the third. Let us indulge 
the hope, tliat when the Sun rises on the Fourth of 
July, 1976, it will shine upon a free, prosperous and 
ehappy land, still known as the United SrATp:s of 
Ameiuoa. 



I 



OENTENNIAL ADDRESS 

Ddkemi at BalUton Sjja, K. Y. July 4, 1876, by J S. L'Amoreaux. 

4 



Fellow Citizen's : 

The nation which w<* are proud to call our own 
lias had one hundred years of life. This is its cen- 
tennial birth-da}'. Its history has been one that 
has attracted the attention of the civilized world. 
Born out of oppression, cradled in libert} , it has 
breathed an atmosphere full of political principles, 
which i-ecognize the individual rights of man as 
nowhere else recognized ; which guaranteed a lib- 
erty to all that is elsewhere impossible ; that insist- 
ed upon the education of the masses as the sure 
protection of the principles upon which it is found- 
ed ; which foster in every way the best and high- 
est interests of the whole people. To found such a 
nation — to perpetuate such a government, presu])- 
poses sacrifices of no small value, and a watchful- 
ness incessant and vigilant. 

We have be<m passing through, for the last year, 
the nation's anniveisary of these sacrifices ; esti- 
mating again the price our fathers paid at Lexing- 
ton, Bunker Hill, and other honored fields, where 



88 SAKATOGA COUNTY : 

the handful of patriots laid the foundation of this 
government in blood and tears. And for more than 
a year they fought defiantly, without organization, 
without government and without any definite aim 
of independence. At Lexington and Bunker Hill 
the men who faced the trained regiments of Eng- 
land were the farmer boys, without leader, disci- 
pline or equipment. Washington did not take 
command of the Continental army until July 3d, 
1775, tSien numbering about 7,000 persons — less 
than one half the number were equipped. A few 
months after, the adjutant-general described the 
military situation in these words : "With an army 
of force before and a secret one bel ind, we stand 
on a point of land with 6,000 old troops (if a year's 
service of about half, can entitle them to this name) 
and about 1,500 law levies of the province ; many 
disaffected and more doubtful. Every man, from 
the general to the private, acquainted with our sit • 
uation, is exceedingly discouraged. Had I known 
the true posture of affairs no consideration would 
have tempted me to take x^art in this scene ; and 
this sentiment is universal." 

Before this little band, taken from 8,000,000 of 
people, thirt}^ thousand of the best troops of Eng- 
land were ariayed. At Charleston alone there 
were fifty ships of war. A long coast line was to 
be defended, an extensive part guarded, the disaf- 
fected and the tories watched. A situation more 
disheartening could be hardl}^ imagined. 

During the earlier part of the war the idea of 
national inde])en deuce was almost, if not entirely, 



AX HISTORICAL Al>nUESS. 39 

unknown. It was far from being understood that 
the war was for the purpose of revolt. Jefferson, 
the author of tlie declaration of independence, said : 
"I had never heard a whisper of a disposition to 
separate from the mother country until after April 
19, 1 776. ' ' Washington said : * 'When I lirst took 
command of the army, July 8, 1775, 1 abhorred the 
idea of independeiice." It was an idea, at tlie 
period named, in its infancy, if indeed it had life 
at all. It was not until the succeeding year, 1776, 
that it began to take permanent shape, and the 
people began to consider the possibility of a sepa- 
late sovereignty, and to be made more enthusiastic 
and devoted by a grand and definite aim. Histo- 
rians .say tliat : "As Americans, they were called 
upon as free subjects of Great Britain, to relinquish 
theorcitically and practicall}^ some of the dearest 
prerogatives guaranteed to them by ancient laws 
and customs, prerogatives in which were enveloped 
the most precious kernels of civil libert}-. They 
arose as (me family to resist the insidious progress 
ot oncoming despotism, and yearned for union to 
give themselves strength commensurate to the task. 
Leading minds in every colony perceived the 
necessity for a general council, and in the spring of 
1774 the great heart of Anglo-America seemed to 
beat as with one pulsation with this sublime idea. 
That idea found voice and expression almost sim- 
ultaneously throughout the land. Rhode Island 
had the distinguished honor to be first to speak out 
publicly on the subject. A general congress was 
proposed at a town meeting in Providence on May 



40 SAEATOGA COUNTY : 

17, 1774. A committee of a town meeting held in 
Philadelphia on the 21st, four days afterward, also 
recommended such a measure, and on the 23d a 
town meeting in New York city uttered the same 
sentiment. The lionse of Burgesses, dissolved by 
Lord Dunmore, assembled at the Raleigh tavern in 
Williamsburgh on the 27th, and on that day warm- 
ly recommended the assembling of a national coun- 
cAl ; and Baltimore in county meeting also took 
action in favor of it on the 31st ; on the 0th of June 
a town meeting at Norwich, Conn., proposed a 
general congress ; on the 11th a county nu^eting at 
Newark, N. J., did the same. On the 17th the 
Massachusetts assembly and at the same time a 
town meeting in Faneuil hall, Boston, strenuously 
recommended the measure, and a county meeting 
at New Castle, Delaware, approvt-dof it Oii the 2yth. 
On the Otli of* July, the committee of correspon- 
dence at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, expressed 
its approl)ation of the measure. A general province 
meeting held at Charleston, S. C, on the 6th, 7th 
and 8th of that month urged the necessit}^ of such 
a congress ; and a district meeting at Wilmington. 
N. C, heartily responded affirmatively. 

Thus we perceive that within the space of sixty- 
four days, twelve of the thirteen colonies spoke out 
decidedly in favor of a continental congress, Georgia 
alone remaining silent. The Massachusetts assem- 
bly designated the 1st of Septenibei-, 1774, as the 
time, and Philadelphia as the place, for the meet- 
ing of the congress. Other colonies acquiesced and 
at Philadelphia the delegates convened. 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 41 

. Says Bancroft : 'This congress in the earlier 
months of 1776 had been steadily drifting on 
towards the distinct assertion of separate sover- 
eignty, and had rendered it irreconcilable with 
reason and good conscience for the colonies to take 
the oaths required for the support of the govern- 
ment under the crown of Great Britain."' 

But it was not until the 7th of June, 1776, that 
Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, arose and read the 
resolution : ''That these united colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent states ; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British Crown and that all political connection 
between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally disolved.'' 

The morning of July 1 was the day set apart for 
considering this resolution, and at the appointed 
time the members, fifty in number, appeared in 
their places. Every colony was found to be repre- 
sented and the delegates from all but one had re- 
ceived full power to act. As early as January, 
Massachusetts had instructed her delegates to act 
for independence. South Carolina in March, and 
Georgia in April. North Carolina, on the 12th of 
April was the first to direct expressly its represen- 
tatives in Congress to concur in a declaration of 
independence. On the 4th day of May, Rhode 
island made its delegates the representatives of an 
independent republic. For two days the resolu- 
tion was earnestly and solemnly debated, and on 
the 2d day of July, 1776, in the words of John 
Adams, "the greatest question was decided which 



43 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

was ever debated in America, and a greater, per- 
haps, never has, nor ever will be, decided among 
men. I am surprised at the suddenness as well as 
the greatness of this resolution. It may be the will 
of heaven that America shall suffer calamities still 
more wasting, and distresses yet more dreadful ; 
but, I submit all my hopes and fears to an over- 
ruling Providence in which I firmly believe. I am 
well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that 
it will cost us to maintain the declaration and sup- 
port and defend these states, yet through all the 
gloom I can see the rays of ravishing glory." 

The vote of July 2 changed the thirteen depen- 
dent colonies into thirteen independent states ; but 
the terse, ringing sentences of Jefferson in the 
Declaration of Independence, put the resolution of 
Lee with such force before the country and the 
world that the birth of the American republic is 
considered to be, not the day on which the resolu- 
tion passed, but the day on whi -h the declaration 
Avas promulgated. 

Looking back upon the work of these men, we 
can scarcely conceive the solemnity of the discuss- 
ion, the perils that environed those few patriots, 
the earnestness with which the}- devoted their lives, 
their treasure, their sacred honor, to the principles 
they believed to be above all price. They were not 
thoughtless, reckless men. The wisdom, the states- 
manship and prudence of the country, were there 
assembled. And the men who laid all upon the 
altar of their country were those who weighed well 
the peril of their cause, and the suffering and pos- 



AX HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 48 

aible disaster that awaited them. Seeing all and 
dreading the worst, the}^ boldly defied the greatest 
power on earth. Congress in its wisdom saw fit to 
conceal the name of the mover of the resolution, 
but when the Declaration was to be signed, the 
enthusiasm of that hour tired every heari. and with 
defiant pen they put their immortal names to the 
paper. 

Said John Hancock : "There, John Bull ma}^ 
read my name without spectacles." 

Franklin remarked : "We must hang together, 
or else most assuredly we shall all hang separate- 
ly-" 

Harrison remarked that Gerry, afterward vice- 
president, would be hanging in the air long after 
his own fate would be settled. 

From the work of these devoted men and the 
principles they promulgated, have grown all the 
results of the past century. The tj-ee which you 
plant to-day is an emblem of the tree of liberty 
they planted then, imbedding its roots firmlj'- in the 
soil of their loft}^ devotion and watering it through 
the terrible years of war with the best blood of the 
land. 

Under the protecting shade of that tree we have 
enjoyed a hundred years of unexampled prosperity, 
a century of marvelous growth in all that makes ar 
nation sti'ong and beneficent to the world. The 
results of the century are almost beyond tlie con- 
ception of the human mind. The inventions and 
discoveries of the age, in all the appfiances that 
almost annihilate space and time, show us how 



44 SARATOGA COUNTY : 

poor and weak our fathers were a hundred years 
ago. We numbered then 3,()00,()0() of people scat- 
tered from Massachusetts to Georgia, occupying 
hardly more than the sea coast. Most of the coun- 
try was a wilderness, the towns widel}- separated, 
the roads almost impassable. 

New York state to-day alone has a mucli larger 
population, and is stronger in all the elements of 
power. In a hundred years we have doubled our 
territory many times. We have increased from 
3, 000, ()()() of poor people to our 50,000,000 of the 
wealthiest people on the globe. And this growth, 
with all that is suggested has onlj' been rendered 
])0ssible by the discoveries which have been made 
during the last hundred years. 

This has been the wonder-century of the christian 
era, and so far as known in the histoiy of the world. 
Steam has revolutionized the world. Our own 
noble Hudson was first plowed by the parent of 
steamers, and to-day no clime u[)on the face of the 
earth that does not bow in homage to its royal 
sway. The locomotive has built a net work of 
roads, traversing every se(?tion of country, and has 
constructed in 50 years more then 78,000 miles of 
railway, 25,000 more than all Europe has laid in 
the same time ; and our roads carry their passen- 
gers with a comfort and speed unknown in tlie old 
world. 

By the side of every railway is that lightninu' 
pulse of the world, the electric telegraph, stretching 
over vast tracts of country, joining hands with the 
old world under the sea, bringing us into familiar 
acquaintance with all the doings of the earth, and 



AN HISTORICAL ADDRE88. 4o 

with news of the most minute occurreuces of the 
present day from tlie most distant parts of the globe. 
What fifty years ago would be considered a mira- 
cle is to-day a fact of common occurrence, and yet 
the telegraph was first brought into practical use 
in 1844, and in 30 years 700, Ooo miles of telegraph 
have been constructed, 150,000 in the United States 
alone. 

Add to these the stationary engine, as a manu- 
facturing power, which has entirely changed the 
face and form of labor. Our rapid development 
has only been • made possible by our multiplied 
application of discover}^ Machiner}' has sup- 
planted labor and become the bone and sinew of 
the country. The cotton gin ; the machiues for 
planting, sowing and thresliing ; the sewing ma- 
chines and the knitting machines ; by which one 
man does the work of ten in the varied fields of 
labor : oil drawn from the depths of earth to light 
our homes ; gold and silver and iron mines ; all 
thc^se present the face and beauty of the country. 
All these wonderful inventions and developments 
are made to please and benefit man. 

The printing press, placing 2,500 volumes annu- 
ally in the hauds of the people, giving life blood to 
the nation, with our periodicals, secular and relig- 
ious, make us the admiration of the world. 

The system of public instruction which gathers 
6,000,000 of our children in the best public schools 
in the world, nd sending them out prepared for 
American citizenship, is the highest evidence of our 
substantial and permanent progress. 



46 SARATOGA COLfNTY : 

The inventions of the people sliow the wonderful 
fertility of American ingenuity and imagination. 
In 1874, one year, 13,o99 patents were granted to 
the American people for their inventions, exceeding 
many times that of all other nations combined. 

These years are behind us ; on them we stand as 
on vantage ground, and from tliem we look into 
the future. While wonders have been accomplished 
in the century past, much beyond the conception 
of our fathers, still there is work to do. Let us 
glean from the experience of the past, and with an 
intelligent and cultivated intellect, and conscience, 
may the principles of our country, like the tree our 
fathers planted, be blessed of heaven and nurtured 
by our favored country. 

May the iidelity of her sons, and the earnest, 
sterling, uncompromising integrity of her people 
be her mark of distinction ; and, as the tree this 
day planted shall grow in grandeur and beauty, so 
may we as a nation grow in moral and intellectual 
strength and power, ever remembering the highest 
exhibition of a nation's glory is to battle for the 
riglit. 



'•Who'll press for gold this crowded street 

A hundred j-ears to come? 
Who'll tread yon church with willing feet 

A hundred years to come ? 
Pule, trembling age,und tiery youth. 
And childhood with his bruw of truth, 
The rich and poor, on land and sea, 
Where will the mighty millions be, 

A liundred years to come ? 



AN JIISTORICAL ADDRESS. 47 

"We all within our graves shall sleep 

A hundred j-ears to come. 
No living soul for us will weep 

A hundred years to come. 
Hut other men our land will till, 
And others then our streets will till, 
And ©ther words will sing as gay, 
And bright the sunshine as to-day, 

A hundred years to come." 



EHHATA. 

Page 9, Line 38, read "destroyed" for "destroy." 
Page 33, Line 39, read "surpassed" for "surpasses. 
Page 38, Line 30, read "county" for "country." 



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